Phillies in on George Sherrill Because Why Not

The Phillies are reinforcing their youth brigade the only way they can:  By adding age to it.

Not satisfied with Antonio Bastardo as the sole lefty in the pen, the Phillies are one of several teams vying for lefty reliever George Sherrill’s attention.  Sherrill was a small portion of the Atlanta Braves in 2011, meaning he was a small portion of the second worst MLB collapse of the year.  Fortunately, he was able to do his job a lot of the time, and struck out almost 40% of the lefties he faced.

The Royals, Blue Jays, and Mariners are also all over this one, as are several other unnamed teams probably, because that’s how this shit works.

The question is, does Tony Bastard really need a father figure?  His last name says no, but his late season performances say yes.  Of course, Sherrill could have no interest in inspiring anybody.  And Tony probably has no interest in being taken under someone’s wing.  He prefers the tougher, “I’ll do it myself” mentality, which may not lead to victory 100% of the time, but will probably allow him the intensity to punch someone.

Maybe Sherrill would provide a second lefty arm to choose from, and little else.  The Phillies went after him before, and didn’t land him, so then again, this may all be a case of Ruben Amaro demanding satisfaction.

But, instead of all of that, this will probably just be a case of the Phillies being intrigued about the concept of an available, capable reliever who throws with the less common of arms.  They probably won’t get him and we’ll have to settle for another year of Tony Bastard’s victory-sneezes.